Call for collaborators - Mechanical Engineering Reference Guide for Add-on Authors

[sumghai]

Okay, I've started populating the Handbook with various entries. Please keep Cpt. Kipard and I informed of any more resources of interest.

[CaptainKipard]

Do you know whether images inside spiler tags are loaded with the page, or only when clicked?

[sumghai]

Do you know whether images inside spiler tags are loaded with the page, or only when clicked?

They're loaded with the page in the background.

[CaptainKipard]

They're loaded with the page in the background.

That's just something to keep in mind as the thread grows.

On another note, I've found a cool little website that describes the international standards for the NASA Docking System. There's no copyright notice anywhere on the website or in the document itself. The website has a technical pdf, as well as several images. The domain name itself is officially registered by a NASA employee. If it's not explicit then I think we can assume that the content there is in public domain with all that information.

http://www.internationaldockingstandard.com

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The QnA implies the standard is in the public domain.

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Would you like to take care of all re-upping?

What would you like to do with websites like this that also include other resources besides the doc?

Edited April 16, 2015 by Cpt. Kipard

[toadicus]

I'm a professional engineer on the less "flashy" side of mechanical engineering; heat transfer and refrigeration. I don't think that's quite what you guys are looking for, but if I can help you find something on that end, let me know. Alas, most of the documents I have easy access are Super Copywritten... but I'll see what I can find upon request.

[CaptainKipard]

I'm a professional engineer on the less "flashy" side of mechanical engineering; heat transfer and refrigeration. I don't think that's quite what you guys are looking for, but if I can help you find something on that end, let me know. Alas, most of the documents I have easy access are Super Copywritten... but I'll see what I can find upon request.

Cool. This will for sure be very useful after 1.0 when heat is going to be a thing. If you're up for it and if it's possible you could even do an overhaul of the stock values.

This reminds me. Could every contributor here let me know if you're ok with being contacted through PM about specific questions? I imagine some questions might be better answered by a specialist. If you're ok we will list your name on the bottom of the OP along with a short description of your speciality or general field of interest, so people can contact you.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Cpt. Kipard

[Stone Blue]

I've been doing a little bit of research on a satellite program I was thinking of trying to make a simple KSP mod for, and I came across this website. I only scratched the surface with the Satellite Missions Database...It also has a nice directory of Airborne (Atmospheric) Sensor programs...There may be even more useful stuff on the site.

I dont know if its anything you would want to include, but....

It has an alphabetical directory of TONS of satellite programs. It gives mission profile and objectives, lite flowchart diagrams of sat systems, basic chassis/payload diagrams, launch platforms, etc...Anyway, I though it gives a GREAT summary and overview of specific sat programs/missions, and maybe a good place to start for someone to maybe base some sat mods, and maybe even contract packs on, for Mission Controller 2 or Contract Configurator...Thats what I was thinking of trying, but I dont code OR model...lol

Earth Observation Portal (eoPortal)

https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions

Here's an example of the James Webb...Just one of HUNDREDS of programs listed:

https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/j/jwst

Edited April 16, 2015 by Stone Blue

[toadicus]

Cool. This will for sure be very useful after 1.0 when heat is going to be a thing. If you're up for it and if it's possible you could even do an overhaul of the stock values.

This reminds me. Could every contributor here let me know if you're ok with being contacted through PM about specific questions? I imagine some questions might be better answered by a specialist. If you're ok we will list your name on the bottom of the OP along with a short description of your speciality or general field of interest, so people can contact you.

I am absolutely OK with being contacted through PM.

[CaptainKipard]

I've been doing a little bit of research on a satellite program I was thinking of trying to make a simple KSP mod for, and I came across this website.

Ummmmm. This may be too broad in scope. I think we're looking for more specific or fundamental information. At the very least someone would have to sift through it. I doubt any modder will want to. I definitely would prefer information that's specific and easily accessed.

[Teamwork]

I was looking into many of the resources I have and I realized that many of them are moderately to heavily copyrighted except for a few. The fragment I posted was one of the few that was okay under "fair use" (a rather nebulous definition I'll say, but I'm debating now if I should take it back), but I'm thinking of sending emails to a lot of the publishers and authors of the more copyrighted ones to ask if I could use excerpts for this project.

Edit: Oh and I'm not really sure if I'm considered a contributor but I'm completely fine with you PM'ing me.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Teamwork

[CaptainKipard]

Edit: Oh and I'm not really sure if I'm considered a contributor but I'm completely fine with you PM'ing me.

You're a student? What's your area and/or specialisation? This is specifically to create a list of people who can answer specific technical questions that others might not be able to.

[Teamwork]

You're a student? What's your area and/or specialisation?

If you mean my major, I'm an undergraduate in mechanical engineering.

[sumghai]

On another note, I've found a cool little website that describes the international standards for the NASA Docking System. There's no copyright notice anywhere on the website or in the document itself. The website has a technical pdf, as well as several images. The domain name itself is officially registered by a NASA employee. If it's not explicit then I think we can assume that the content there is in public domain with all that information.

http://www.internationaldockingstandard.com

- - - Updated - - -

The QnA implies the standard is in the public domain.

- - - Updated - - -

Would you like to take care of all re-upping?

What would you like to do with websites like this that also include other resources besides the doc?

Ultimately, I've concluded that rehosting isn't really necessary anymore, even for public domain content - if links get broken, we'll just need to stay on our toes and find replacement content.

As for the International Docking Standard / NASA Docking System, I'll get on that right away

I'm a professional engineer on the less "flashy" side of mechanical engineering; heat transfer and refrigeration. I don't think that's quite what you guys are looking for, but if I can help you find something on that end, let me know. Alas, most of the documents I have easy access are Super Copywritten... but I'll see what I can find upon request.

Heat transfer and refrigeration are critically important in aerospace engineering - hence the actual thread being named as the more-inclusive Engineer's Handbook rather than the Mechanical Engineer's Handbook. Your contributions will be most appreciated.

With regards to copyrighted content, if the original authors / publishers have them hosted on their website, then we can just link to it. If it's an eBook you purchased, then we'll have to find some alternatives.

[SpaceExplorer]

If it's an eBook you purchased, then we'll have to find some alternatives.

Do you think that it is legally bound if we cite the information via a bibliography in the OP? (I could make one if it is needed)

Cpt. Kipard, I know that I will not be able to help with questions, but I too would not mind being PM'd. I could help out more in the scope of ensuring that the content that a person wants to post is not copyrighted, or if it is public domain or not.

[sumghai]

Do you think that it is legally bound if we cite the information via a bibliography in the OP? (I could make one if it is needed)

Ideally, we should be directly linking to PDFs and embedding images/videos, since textual descriptions with citations tend to become long-winded.

Regardless of citation / biblography, you can't personally re-upload copyrighted content. You can only link to copyrighted content that the original author/publisher has made available on the internet themselves.

[SpaceExplorer]

Ideally, we should be directly linking to PDFs and embedding images/videos, since textual descriptions with citations tend to become long-winded.

Regardless of citation / biblography, you can't personally re-upload copyrighted content. You can only link to copyrighted content that the original author/publisher has made available on the internet themselves.

Very true, I was just thinking along the lines of someone wanting to link a part of a PDF document, instead of linking the entire thing. But I guess that does not matter, since majority of the stuff that you guys are going to be linking towards will be public domain, and does not need to be cited anyways.

EDIT:

On another note, I was poking around the internet and found these two websites with some cool data in them:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/structure/baydoors.html

(The one above documents the Space Shuttle cargo doors)

http://www.spaceshuttleguide.com/

(This one has a lot of images and explanation in regards to the numerous systems that the Space Shuttle has - the images that the site contains are from NASA handbooks and should be under pubic domain, but this site is a great resource either way)

Edited April 17, 2015 by SpaceExplorer
Added information

[CaptainKipard]

If you mean my major, I'm an undergraduate in mechanical engineering.

OK. That's cool. I mean you can obviously help if you want and that's what that thread is for, I was just thinking of making a separate list for specialists that can answer more specific questions. I haven't really thought this through though. Maybe everyone who wants to answer questions in that thread should just subscribe to it.

Cpt. Kipard, I know that I will not be able to help with questions, but I too would not mind being PM'd. I could help out more in the scope of ensuring that the content that a person wants to post is not copyrighted, or if it is public domain or not.

I know you want to help but since we're not uploading anything anymore there's no need for checking copyright.

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sumghai what happens if we both try to edit the post at the same time?

[sumghai]

I was just thinking of making a separate list for specialists that can answer more specific questions. I haven't really thought this through though. Maybe everyone who wants to answer questions in that thread should just subscribe to it.

Subscribing and enabling email alerts seems to be the best bet.

I've put myself forward for mechanical and electromechanical devices.

sumghai what happens if we both try to edit the post at the same time?

No idea, sorry

[sumghai]

While looking for information regarding the mechanism that opens/closes the Space Shuttle Orbiter's payload bay doors, I found an interesting tidbit of info in the following document:

http://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/design_lib/STS21492.PL_users_guide.pdf

Page 81 describes how payloads are attached to the payload bay (Answer: there are 124 longeron per side and 104 keel attachment points)

Still trying to find an actual description of the bay door mechanism, though.

EDIT: Found something, but it's from a Google Books preview of a copyrighted tome (scroll to previous page):

https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=r8ZsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=shuttle+bay+door+linkage&source=bl&ots=_VcE8szmtR&sig=0oCFzlu6Fi0AaVOOhNQn5rkzo4A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HpUwVd3PM-e8mAXMsYGoCg&ved=0CFIQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&q=shuttle%20bay%20door%20linkage&f=false

Edited April 17, 2015 by sumghai

[ZodiusInfuser]

Hi, I may be able to contribute a few things to this. My background is a PhD in robotics, specifically on modular and self-reconfiguring robots.

One thing you may find useful to include is a paper I did on connection mechanisms between modular robots, not so much for the results but the analysis of various existing designs. Could prove useful for some people if they want to do their own docking ports. I'm afraid I only have a direct link: http://naturalrobotics.group.shef.ac.uk/publications/2014-iros-parrott.pdf

[CaptainKipard]

Hi, I may be able to contribute a few things to this. My background is a PhD in robotics, specifically on modular and self-reconfiguring robots.

One thing you may find useful to include is a paper I did on connection mechanisms between modular robots, not so much for the results but the analysis of various existing designs. Could prove useful for some people if they want to do their own docking ports. I'm afraid I only have a direct link: http://naturalrobotics.group.shef.ac.uk/publications/2014-iros-parrott.pdf

Great. Do you think you'll have the time to answer modders questions in that thread from time to time? Or contribute in other ways in the future?

While looking for information regarding the mechanism that opens/closes the Space Shuttle Orbiter's payload bay doors, I found an interesting tidbit of info in the following document:

http://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/design_lib/STS21492.PL_users_guide.pdf

Page 81 describes how payloads are attached to the payload bay (Answer: there are 124 longeron per side and 104 keel attachment points)

Nice

Still trying to find an actual description of the bay door mechanism, though.

EDIT: Found something, but it's from a Google Books preview of a copyrighted tome (scroll to previous page):

https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=r8ZsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=shuttle+bay+door+linkage&source=bl&ots=_VcE8szmtR&sig=0oCFzlu6Fi0AaVOOhNQn5rkzo4A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HpUwVd3PM-e8mAXMsYGoCg&ved=0CFIQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&q=shuttle%20bay%20door%20linkage&f=false

Good news is that armed with the knowledge on that page I was able to find this document. Payload Bay Doors and Radiator Panels Familiarization Handbook. There aren't many diagrams, and they're of terrible quality but it uses engineering jargon. Apparently the mechanism is called the "PLBD drive system".

I think this and your first document will be enough for this particular item (payload bays).

Edited April 17, 2015 by Cpt. Kipard

[ZodiusInfuser]

Great. Do you think you'll have the time to answer modders questions in that thread from time to time? Or contribute in other ways in the future?

I'll certainly be able to help with the former, and hopefully provide links to other references in the future too. They probably won't all be scientific papers or technical documents though, if that's ok?

[CaptainKipard]

I'll certainly be able to help with the former, and hopefully provide links to other references in the future too. They probably won't all be scientific papers or technical documents though, if that's ok?

As long as it helps modders make realistic looking parts or code realistic systems then it's fine. Speaking of which a foolproof guide to PID controllers is something that could be useful. I'm guessing you understand those?

Plesse subscribe to the thread.

[ZodiusInfuser]

As long as it helps modders make realistic looking parts or code realistic systems then it's fine. Speaking of which a foolproof guide to PID controllers is something that could be useful. I'm guessing you understand those?

Cool. I'll see what I can dig up over the weekend then . I understand the basic principle but its been a very long time since I've had to deal with PID I'm afraid. I do remember that tuning their values is very much a trial-and-error approach though.

[sumghai]

Good news is that armed with the knowledge on that page I was able to find this document. Payload Bay Doors and Radiator Panels Familiarization Handbook. There aren't many diagrams, and they're of terrible quality but it uses engineering jargon. Apparently the mechanism is called the "PLBD drive system".

I think this and your first document will be enough for this particular item (payload bays).

Page 28, Fig 2.3.2.1 reveals that the mechanism is something like a four-bar linkage. That's good enough for anyone to get started.

GREAT SUCCESS

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Oh, by the way, I recommend following an alphabetical order for each entry, since it makes it easier to find things. Related entries can be prefixed with similar names/terms.